iJA. 


Relief  of  the  Suffering  Poor  of  the  South. 


SPEECHES 

\ 

OF 

HON.  WILLIAM  WILLIAMS,  OF  INDIANA, 


HON,  BENJAMIN  F.  BUTLER,  OF  MASSACHUSETTS, 

HON.  JOHN  A.  LOGAN,  OF  ILLINOIS, 

AND 

HON.  JOHN  COVODE,  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  MARCH  13,  18G7. 


WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED  AT  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  GLOBE  OFFICE. 
186V. 


SUFFERING  POOR  OF  THE  SOUTH. 


The  House  being  in  Committee  of  the  Whole  on 
the  state  of  the  Union — 

Mr.  WILLIAMS,  of  Indiana,  said: 

I regret  to  take  up  any  of  the  time  of  the  House 
in  opposing  this  resolution  ; but  I would  inquire 
if  there  is  to  be  any  limit  to  these  appropriations 
asked  for  from  this  Congress  ? Is  it  true  that  this 
Government  is  a mine  of  inexhaustible  wealth, 
and  that  it  has  become  a hospital  for  the  desti-  | 
tute  of  the  entire  country  ? Is  it  true  that  mil-  ! 
•lions  and  millions  are  to  be  voted  out  of  the  j 
public  Treasury  to  be  used  to  feed  the  wives  j 
and  children  of  those  men  who  raised  the  arm  | 
of  rebellion  against  the  flag  of  our  country  ? If  j 
Congress  shall  adopt  a policy  to  make  appro- 
priations for  the  destitute  of  the  land,  let  them  j 
go  into  the  large  cities,  into  the  towns  and  | 
hamlets,  and  provide  for  the  widows  and  chil- 
dren of  our  soldiers,  and  lavish  upon  them  the 
bounty  they  propose  to  give. 

I know  when  a measure  comes  with  the  sup-  ; 
port  of  General  Howard  it  is  hard  to  oppose 
it.  Sir,  I love  his  patriotic  devotion  1>o  his  | 
country,  aud  his  devotion  to  the  suffering  every-  ] 
where.  I know  that  when  he  comes  before  j 
Congress  asking  an  appropriation  for  the  suf-  i 
fering  millions  it  is  hard  to  resist  it;  but  let  me  J 
say  here  that  this  bill  calling  for  an  appropria- 
tion of  $1,000,000  is  not  all  that  we_  shall  be 
called  upon  to  vote.  Is  there  any  point  where 
we  can  stop  these  vast  calls  upon  our  Treasury  ? 
If  there  be  not,  I say  the  time  will  soon  come 
when  you  will  want  another  bankrupt  law — one 
for  the  Government  and  not  for  the  citizen. 

This  appropriation  is  to  be  paid  out  by  the 
Freedmen’s  Bureau.  I undertake  to  say  that 
there  have  been  sufficient  appropriations  made 
at  the  last  session  of  the  Thirty-Ninth  Con- 
gress for  that  bureau.  There  was,  I under- 
stand, a surplus  of  $280,000  remaining. 

During  the  last  session  of  the  Thirty-Ninth 
Congress  we  appropriated  $5,136,000  more  for 
the  destitute  of  the  South.  Yet  now  we  are 
asked  to  draw  $1,000,000  more  from  the  pock- 
ets of  the  toiling  yeomen  of  our  country  to 
feed  the  rebels  of  the  South. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I here  enter  my  solemn  pro- 


test in  the  Hall  of  this  House  against  an  appro- 
priation which  shall  tax  the  one-armed  and 
limbless  soldiers  of  the  Republic  who  fought 
and  suffered  for  the  flag,  to  take  this  money 
out  of  their  pocket  and  pay  it  to  the  women 
and  children  of  rebels,  women  and  children 
nvho  with  malignant  hatred  spat  upon  our  sol- 
diers wounded  and  weary  in  their  march  to  the 
sea.  I protest  against  it  in  behalf  of  the  widows 
and  orphans  of  the  men  who  were  starved  to 
death  at  Andersonville. 

Why  should  we  appropriate  $1,000,000  for 
feeding  the  poor  of  that  region?  Is  there  no 
law  by  which  we  could  make  the  wealthy  rebels 
support  their  own  poor  and  destitute?  I think 
if  my  friend  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Butler] 
had  control  of  that  department  he  would  find 
some  law  by  which  the  wealthy  rebels  should 
be  taxed  to  feed  their  own  poor. 

I am  opposed  to  this  measure ; I oppose  it 
because  this  Congress  must  come  to  a stop  some 
time  in  these  appropriations  of  millions  from 
i the  pockets  of  our  people,  who  are  now  op- 
| pressed  with  taxation.  And  I understand  some 
j of  these  southern  communities  spurn  the  offer- 
j ing  of  help  by  Mr.  Peabody.  I say  then  let 
j them  wait.  If  there  is  to  be  suffering  in  this 
country,  if  there  is  to  be  destitution,  if  any  are 
to  suffer,  let  it  be  the  disloyal ; and  if  need  be, 
let  God  Almighty  populate  that  country  with 
people  who  will  love  our  flag  and  the  free  insti- 
tutions of  which  it  is  the  emblem. 

Mr.  BUTLER  said  : 

Mr.  Chairman  : I desire,  with  the  leave  of 
the  committee,  to  offer  a substitute  for  the  res- 
jl  olution.  I move  to  strike  out  all  after  the  en- 
||  acting  clause  and  insert  in  lieu  thereof  the 
j[  following: 

That  the  sum  of  SI, 000,000  be  appropriated,  to  be 
l | expended  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of 
i War,  in  relieving  the  widows  and  children  of  Union 
! soldiers  starved  to  death  in  the  rebel  prisons  ot  An- 
[ dersonville,  Salisbury,  Libby,  Millen,  and  Belle  Isle. 

I I do  not,  sir,  object  to  the  resolution  before 
I the  committee,  nor  do  I in  offering  this  sub- 
stitute mean  to  foster  in  the  slightest  degree 
| the  idea  that  the  money  proposed  to  be  appro- 


priated  by  the  original  resolution  will  be  im- 
properly expended.  On  the  contrary,  I have 
great  confidence  in  the  gentleman  who  is  at  the 
head  of  that  institution  commonly  called  the 
Freedmen’s  Bureau. 

I beg  leave  to  call  the  attention  of  the  com- 
mittee to  the  fact  that  it  is  the  Bureau  of 
Abandoned  Lands,  ^Refugees,  and  Freedmen,  so 
that  it  covers  in  its  wise  and  beneficent  provis- 
ions every  loyal  and  true  element  in  the  south- 
ern States,  and  there  is  no  occasion  to  go 
further  except  as  a matter  of  charity,  and  I 
have  been  taught  to  be  just  before  I am  gen- 
erous. Sir,  this  resolution  calls  to  mind  the  j 
starved  and  emaciated  forms  of  my  fellow- 
soldiers,  as  they  passed  through  my  hands  while 
commissioner  of  exchange  of  prisoners  as  they 
returned  from  these  deadly  prisons,  and  I have 
thereby  again  been  brought  face  to  face  with 
their  widows  and  children,  and  until  the  country 
is  able  to  make  sufficient  provision  for  them  I j 
am  not  in  favor  of  putting  my  hand  into  the 
pocket  of  the  already  overtaxed  North  to  be 
generous  to  the  untaxed  South. 

Sir,  I do  not  believe  in  the  principle  of  this 
bill  for  another  reason : while  I listened  to  the 
very  able  report,  which  I wish  the  committee!* 
to  understand  was  not  volunteered  by  General 
Howard,  but  was  drawn  out  by  a resolution  of 
the  Senate,  that  there  may  be  some  sixty 
thousand  whites  and  blacks  in  the  whole  South 
that  need  relief,  yet  I do  not  see  how  it  is  that 
we  are  called  upon  in  this  form  of  relief  to 
step  forward  and  from  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States  make  such  an  appropriation.  j 

Let  me  call  the  attention  of  gentlemen  upon  j 
the  other  side  of  the  House  to  this  fact : if  they  ! 
vote  for  this  bill,  what  becomes  of  their  vaunted  J 
doctrine  of  State  rights?  Suppose  this  war  j 
had  not  occurred,  do  you  believe  that  upon  any 
case  of  starvation,  either  at  the  South  ox  in 
the  North,  it  would  have  been  believed  by  the 
strict  constructionists  of  the  Constitution  that 
Congress  had  the  constitutional  power  to  make 
an  appropriation  for  such  purpose  as  this  ? 

But,  sir,  I do  not  for  myself  take  this  ground. 

I am  not  one  of  those  who  now  believe  that  this 
Government  would  be  powerless  if  it  were 
expedient  and  just  to  aid  these  men ; but  I 
object  to  the  mode  in  which  the  money  is  pro- 
posed to  be  raised  for  this  object.  If  you  will 
pardon  me  a single  personal  allusion,  in  refer- 
ence to  what  fell  from  the  lips  of  my  friend 
from  Indiana,  before  me,  [Mr.  Williams,]  in 
my  absence  from  the  House,  and  what  I would 
not  have  dared  to  have  obtruded  on  the  com- 
mittee but  for  that  allusion,  I will  say  that  I 
have  had  some  experience  in  a like  case,  for 
from  the  loth  June  to  the  15th  December, 
1862, 1 fed  in  the  department  of  the  Gulf  thirty- 
four  thousand  and  odd  white  women  and  chil- 
dren, who  would  otherwise  have  starved,  and 
whose  husbands  and  fathers,  many  of  them, 
were  in  the  confederate  army;  but  I did  not 
tax  the  loyal  North  to  obtain  that  relief.  Under 
the  war  power  I taxed  the  rich  of  the  South  J 
to  support  the  poor  of  the  South.  And  I will  II 


go  as  far  as  he  who  goes  farthest  in  that  direc- 
tion now  to  aid  the  same  poor  by  any  constitu- 
tional legislation. 

The  destitution  of  the  South,  as  a whole,  is 
much  exaggerated.  Let  us  remember  that  in 
the  palmiest  days  of  the  South  their  cotton 
crop  of  two  million  bales  sold  for  but  ten 
cents  a pound,  and  that  there  were  in  the 
South  at  the  collapse  of  the  rebellion  two  mil- 
lion bales  of  cotton  that  sold  for  from  fifty 
to  seventy-five  cents  a pound ; perhaps  sixty 
cents  would  be  an  average,  equivalent  to  six 
crops  of  the  olden  time,  or  nearly  five  hun- 
dred million  dollars.  If  that  were  fairly  dis- 
tributed in  the  South,  there  would  be  no  need 
to  call  upon  us  of  the  North  to  aid  in  the  sup- 
port of  the  southern  people.  It  is  because 
such  firms  as  Frazier,  Trenholm  & Co.  accu- 
mulated the  resources  of  the  South  during  the 
war  ; because  the  whole  property  of  the  South 
is  aggregated  in  a few  hands;  because  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  acting  as  he 
believed  rightly  we  must  conclude,  until  it  is 
judicially  examined  at  another  bar,  gives  back 
the  property  captured  by  the  forces  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  to  whom?  To  the  poor  men  of  the 
South?  Oh,  no ; but  to  the  men  of  wealth,  the 
owners  of  the  land,  so  that  the  text  has  almost 
been  verified  which  says,  “To  him  who  hath 
shall  be  given  ; and  to  him  who  hath  not,  shall 
be  taken  away  even  that  which  he  hath.” 

Now,  after  we  have  been  told  by  the  Execu- 
tive that  Congress  is  making  appropriations  so 
extravagant  that  he  believes  it  will  lead>  to 
repudiation  of  our  national  obligations,  I trust 
we  will  pause  before  we  make  further  appro- 
priations for  such  purposes,  and  say  at  least 
we  will  first  make  those  which  will  do  justice 
to  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those  who  fought 
our  battles  ; and  then  we  will  take  such  property 
as  comes  to  us  from  the  war  to  repair  the  rav- 
ages of  the  war,  both  North  and  South.  I for 
one  ask  no  confiscation  of  any  property  that 
shall  go  into  the  pockets  of  the  North.  Thank 
God,  our  industry,  our  enterprise,  our  means 
of  recuperation  are  such  that  we  need  none  of 
it.  But  I do  ask  that  there  shall  be  legislation 
which  will  distribute  the  property,  whether 
real  or  personal  property,  among  those  of  the 
South  whose  labor  has  earned  it,  and  who  are 
now  starving  because  they  are  deprived  of  the 
results  of  their  labors.  For  such  legislation, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  masses  of  the  South,  I 
shall  ever  be  ready  to  give  my  voice  and  my 
vote. 

The  property  in  the  South,  which  belongs 
to  us  by  the  right  of  capture,  every  dollar  of 
it,  and  which  is  ours  and  at  our  disposal  by 
every  principle  ever  yet  enunciated  from  any 
judicial  tribunal  competent  to  cope  with  the 
subject — concerning  that  property  I desire  to 
see  legislation  which  shall  equalize  the  bur- 
dens of  the  war,  now  so  grevious  to  be  borne 
by  the  southern  people.  Besides,  before  I am 
called  upon  to  be  generous  to  the  southern 


4 


such  legislation  as  in  Mississippi,  appropriating 
$20,000 — and  for  what.  To  feed  her  starving 
poor?  No,  but  to  defend  Jefferson  Davis, 
who  is  luxuriating  in  Fortress  Monroe,  on  a 
trial  which  will  never  take  place. 

Mr.  BOYER.  Will  the  gentleman  from 
Massachusetts  [Mr.  Butler]  allow  me  to  ask 
a question? 

Mr.  BUTLER.  Certainly. 

Mr.  BOYER.  I would  ask  the  gentleman 
whether,  if  such  an  appropriation  was  made 
by  the  legislative  body  to  which  he  refers,  that 
is  any  reason  why  the  children  of  those  who 
had  nothing  to  do  with  that  legislation  should 
be  left  to  starve?  Ought  those  who  had  noth- 
ing to  do  with  that  legislation  to  be  held  ac- 
countable for  it? 

Mr.  BUTLER.  I can  answer  that  question, 

I think,  as  it  should  be  answered,  in  the  light 
of  the  proprieties  of  governmental  action. 
Governments  must  always  deal  with  commu- 
nities, not  with  individuals;  Governments  must 
always  deal  with  the  organized  action  of  com- 
munities, not  with  the  acts  of  individuals. 
The  individual  must  partake  of  the  character 
and  suffer  the  fate  of  the  community  in  which 
he  resides.  And  if  the  men  of  the  South  • 
make  such  legislation  as  I have  specified 
through  their  organized  government,  it  must 
be  taken  as  the  index  by  which  our  action 
toward  them  is  to  be  guided. 

Mr.  BOYER.  Let  me  ask  one  other  ques- 
tion in  this  connection.  Ought  the  people,  of 
Georgia  to  be  left  to  starve  because  of  objec- 
tionable legislation  by  the  people  of  Mississippi  ? 

Mr.  BUTLER.  By  no  means.  And  if  the 
acts  to  which  I refer  had  been  singular  as  com- 
mitted by  the  people  of  Mississippi  alone, 
perhaps  I might  be  content  with  striking  the 
State  of  Mississippi  from  the  benefits  of  this 
appropriation  and  stop  there.  Bui  did  not 
the  gentleman  see  the  statement  but  the  other 
day  that  the  ladies  of  Texas  had  sold  a large 
quantity  of  confederate  uniforms  which  they 
had  made  up  for  confederate  soldiers  while 
the  rebel  armies  were  yet  in  the  field?  And 
what  did  they  do  with  the  proceeds  of  that 
sale?  Did  they  appropriate  them  for  the  ben- 
efit of  the  starving  poor  in  Texas,  of  whom  the 
Commissioner  of  the  Freedmen’s  Bureau  re- 
ports to  us  there  are  thousands?  Not  at  all. 
They  sent  the  moneys  arising  from  that  sale 
as  an  endowment  to  the  college  in  Virginia 
over  which  the  rebel  General  Robert  E.  Lee 
presides,  in  order,  I suppose,  that  the  youth 
of  the  South  might  be  taught  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  heretofore  their  duties  of  loyalty  to 
their  country,  their  obligations  to  their  fellow- 
men,  and  the  binding  effects  of  their  sworn  oaths, 
which  their  teacher  for  himself  had  violated. 

“Straws  show  which  way  the  wind  blows.” 

Let  me  ask  the  gentleman  from  Pennsylvania 
[Mr.  Boyer]  to  notice  another  straw  which 
shows  the  current  of  southern  feeling.  But  a 
day  or  two  since  we  saw  an  account  of  two 
gamecocks  being  sent  as  a present  to  Robert 


E.  Lee  from  the  soldiers  of  the  army  of  north* 
ern  Virginia.  Would  it  hot  have  been  better 
to  have  boiled  them  to  feed  some  of  those  starv- 
ing children  of  their  comrades  that  the  gentle- 
man is  so  anxious  about  ? [Laughter.  ] I 
insist  that  we  must  take  these  things  as  indicice 
of  the  temper  of  the  people  of  the  South,  and 
so  govern  ourselves  in  our  legislation.  Let 
them  learn  that  so  long  as  there  is  such  action 
on  the  part  of  their  public  bodies,  so  long  as 
they  follow  the  lead  of  the  men  who  have  led 
them  to  destruction,  destruction  can  be  the 
only  result.  Let  them  learn  that  in  the  recon- 
struction which  I trust  is  soon  to  be  accom- 
plished in  a loyal  manner  they  must  repudiate 
their  old  leaders,  and  by  a course  of  legisla- 
tion which  shall  tend  to  make  a division  of  the 
lands  among  all  the  people,  give  to  every  man 
the  means  of  at  least  fulfilling  the  primeval 
curse  11  by  the  sweat  of  thy  brow  shalt  thou  eat 
thy  bread,”  thus  affording  the  needed  relief  to 
a suffering  people. 

I regret  as  much  as  the  gentleman  from 
Pennsylvania  or  any  other,  the  state  of  desti- 
tution which  is  represented  as  existing  in  the 
South ; and  I feel  that  I have  a right  to  say 
Irthat  when  I had  the  power  I did  all  that  in  me 
lay  to  relieve  such  destitution,  for  which  1 have 
received  thus  far  no  other  reward  than  a de- 
lightful shower  of  obloquy.  When  the  ques- 
tion is.  presented  to  me,  sir,  how  much  I will 
give  as  a private  citizen  toward  relieving  dis- 
tress in  the  South,  I trust  that  my  subscription 
will  not  fall  behind  that  which  my  friend  from 
Pennsylvania,  in  the  goodness  of  his  heart, 
may  contribute  in  accordance  with  our  respect- 
ive means. 

But,  sir,  I am  now  speaking  as  a legislator. 
I say  that  in  these  Halls  of  legislation  we  have 
no  right  to  pass  over  the  starving  widows  and 
children  of  our  soldiers,  for  whom  we  have  yet 
made  no  sufficient  provision  as  a nation,  and 
for  the  care  of  whom  every  State  in  the  Union, 
and  the  State  I have  the  honor  in  part  to  rep- 
resent more  than  or  as  much  as  any  other,  is 
burdened  with  taxation ; we  have  no  right  as 
legislators  to  put  our  hands  into  the  Treasury, 
supplied  by  taxation,  to  meet  the  claims  of 
generosity  before  the  claims  of  justice  are 
satisfied.  Will  any  gentleman  in  the  House, 
in  voting  upon  this  substitute,  say  that  gen- 
erosity prompts  him  to  vote  $1,000,000  to  the 
starving  women  and  children  of  the  South, 
while  justice  to  the  overtaxed  North  prevents 
him  from  relieving  the  starving  widows  and 
children  of  the  noble  heroes  who  gave  up  their 
lives  for  their  country  at  Andersonville,  Belle 
Isle,  and  Libby? 

It  is  stated  in  the  able  report  of  the  Com- 
missioner of  the  Freedmen’s  Bureau  that  sixty 
thousand  starving  women  and  children  have 
been  reported  to  him.  Why,  sir,  the  thirty 
thousand  and  more  of  Union  soldiers  starved  in 
those  prisons  have  left  on  an  average  more  than 
two  dear  ones  who  were  dependent  upon  them. 
Therefore  I insist  again,  leaving  off  where  I 
began,  that  we  should  be  just  before  we  are 


5 


generous,  and  take  from  the  disloyal  property- 
holders  of  the  South  the  means  of  repairing 
the  great  wrong  they  have  done  by  misleading 
their  humbler  fellow-citizens  into  a great  war 
and  into  this  subsidiary  rebellion  after  the  war 
is  over. 

Mr.  LOGAN  said: 

Mr.  Chairman:  I do  not  intend  to  detain 
the  committee  any  great  length  of  time  in 
discussing  the  proposition  before  us.  I have 
entire  confidence,  sir,  in  the  integrity,  as 
well  as  the  good  intentions,  in  all  things,  of 
the  noble  officer  in  charge  of  the  Freedmen’s 
Bureau.  His  generosity  and  philanthropy  is 
coextensive  with  all  suffering  humanity.  Any 
appeal  addressed  to  him  on  behalf  of  any  class 
of  people  who  may  be  represented  as  suffering 
is  sure  to  find  in  his  bosom  a sympathetic  re- 
sponse, and,  owing  to  the  generosity  of  his  na- 
ture, may  sometimes  surpass  that  which  would 
by  others  not  seem  just  and  proper  under  the 
circumstances.  Now,  sir,  I ask  who  is  this 
that  demands  this  unprecedented  charity  at  the 
hands  of  Congress?  What  class  of  people  is 
it?  Is  it  the  poor  downtrodden  freedmen  ? 
Is  it  the  poor  white  people?  or  is  it  the  fami- 
lies of  the  leaders  of  the  rebellion  that  have 
caused  so  much  weeping  and  wailing  in  our 
land  ? 

We  hare  no  information  further  than  that 
there  are  some  sixty  thousand  people  who  are 
suffering,  or  who  soon  will  be  in  a suffering 
condition,  in  the  rebel  States.  I would  be  as 
willing  as  any  one  to  put  ray  hand  in  my  pocket 
and  so  far  as  I am  able  relieve  the  sufferings 
of  any  unfortunate  class  of  people.  But  look- 
ing at  this  resolution  as  I do,  I cannot  put  my 
hand  in  the  pockets  of  the  tax-payers,  many 
of  whom  are  as  poor  as  those  who  pretend  to 
ask  this  Government  to  be  made  an  alms-house, 
and  assist  in  appropriating  $1,000,000  as  a 
pension  to  one-armed  and  one-legged  rebel 
soldiers  or  the  families  of  that  class.  This 
resolution,  sir,  is  nothing  more  than  a dodge 
to  make  pensioners  of  rebels  that  cannot  be 
provided  for  in  the  usual  way.  You  do  not 
put  them  on  the  United  States  pension -rolls, 
by  the  side  of  the  wounded  soldiers  and  widows 
and  orphans  of  those  who  died  in  defense  of 
their  country ; but  by  another  mode  you  put 
them  on  the  bounty  of  the  Government.  This 
House  but  yesterday  refused  to  pass  a bill 
equalizing  the  bounties  of  the  soldiers  that 
fought  on  the  side  of  their  country  in  the  great 
struggle  for  the  existence  of  the  Union.  Yet 
without  accomplishing  that,  without  amply  pro- 
viding for  our  own  widows  and  crying  orphans 
that  prattle  about  the  return  of  those  they  will 
see  no  more,  we  are  asked  to  give  $1,000,000 
for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  wants  of 
somebody,  without  knowing  who. 

When  you  talk  about  dealing  out  $1,000,000 
of  commissary  stores  to  these  poor  people  of 
the  South,  we  but  have  to  reflect  for  one  moment 
to  see  that  labor  is  at  a high  price  in  the  New 
England  factories ; and  when  we  look  at  the 


vast  domain  of  the  Northwest,  and  find  in 
many  instances  the  plow  has  been  permitted 
to  stand  in  the  furrow  because  labor  has  been 
so  high,  and  if  any  portion  of  the  poor  people 
anywhere  or  laboring  classes  toward  whom 
gentlemen  desire  to  be  so  generous  are  suffering 
the  road  is  broad  and  open  to  the  Northwest, 
where  the  poor  and  laboring  classes  of  all  climes 
and  all  complexions  are  invited  by  our  smiling 
prairies.  We  need  their  labor  and  are  ready  to 
pay  them  for  it,  we  will  help  them  to  live  until 
harvest  season,  we  will  alleviate  their  wants 
and  allay  their  sufferings ; but  they  must  apply 
in  the  proper  manner.  They  must  show  a 
willingness  to  work  and  earn  their  livelihood 
by  the  sweat  of  their  face  as  our  own  people 
have  always  done.  Sir,  this  is  not  the  first 
time  we  have  been  asked  to  show  our  generosity 
to  this  same  people.  During  the  war  against 
traitors  and  rebels,  and  while  we  were  fighting 
the  men  who  sought  the  life  of  this  nation  and 
the  lives  of  its  defenders,  we  were  feeding  and 
supporting  their  wives  and  children  left  behind, 
who  were  by  the  fortunes  of  war  cast  within 
our  lines.  I have  seen  many  times  long  lines 
of  them  at  the  doors  of  the  commissary  depart- 
ment at  different  posts  receiving  food,  while 
we  were  fighting  their  husbands  and  friends  at 
the  front.  They  were  not  then  above  asking 
us  to  feed  them,  while  they  despised  us  and  our 
cause,  and  I have  no  doubt  the  same  class  are 
now  to  be  fed  under  this  appropriation.  I hear 
no  complaint  on  the  part  of  the  freedmen  or 
from  any  class  who  have  tried  to  preserve  and 
protect  themselves. 

There  is  a class  of  people  in  the  South  that 
never  did  make  bread,  and  never  will,  who  will 
always  be  starving,  and  on  the  bounty  of  the 
Government  if  we  will  allow  them  to  become 
pensioners.  If  they  had -used  ordinary  indus- 
try and  had  energy  they  would  not  to-day  be 
in  want  of  assistance  to  save  them  from  star- 
vation. There  is  no  spot  on  earth  more  invit- 
ing than  those  southern  fields.  They  are  car- 
peted in  green  and  decorated  by  the  hand  of 
the  Almighty  with  the  rarest  and  most  beauti- 
ful flowers.  It  wants  but  the  well-directed 
energy  and  industry  of  its  inhabitants  to  make 
it  as  prosperous  and  abundant  as  any  land  the 
sun  shines  upon.  Yet  it  is  in  this  land  of 
beauty  and  richness  we  are  asked  to  feed  the 
mouths  of  sixty  thousand  people;  and  while 
we  are  in  hot  haste  to  tax  our  people  to  feed 
them  what  do  we  see?  In  the  State  of  Arkan- 
sas a short  time  ago  an  appropriation  was  made 
providing  for  the  pensioning  of  soldiers  not 
provided  for  by  Congress,  meaning  the  rebel 
soldiers,  not  for  the  weeping  widow  and  crying 
orphan  of  the  Union  soldier.  No,  sir;  but 
money  they  could  appropriate  for  the  rebel 
soldiers,  their  widows  and  orphans.  So  in 
other  rebel  States  they  have  appropriated 
money  for  colleges  and  schools  of  a military 
character,  where  treason  again  can  be  taught 
and  made  respectable.  If  these  States  can 
provide  money  for  such  purposes,  I ask  could 
they  not  dole  out  a few  mouthsful  of  bread  to 


6 


the  starving  people  so  eloquently  appealed  for 
here  to-day  ? 

I could  cite  many  other  instances  where 
money  has  been  provided  by  their  rebel  Legis- 
latures to  promote  treason  and  benefit  those 
who  had  cursed  the  land  by  steeping  their 
souls  in  perjury  and  their  hands  in  the  blood 
of  Union  men  ; but  no  instance  can  I find 
where  they  have  shown  a willingness  to  feed 
the  poor  freedman  or  the  poor  white  man. 
Sir,  let  this  Congress,  as  done  heretofore,  en- 
courage industry,  invite  these  people  to  come 
to  the  great  West,  where  liberty  is  known  and 
loyalty  loved,  where  energy,  industry,  and 
labor  is  rewarded.  If  Congress,  however,  is 
to  be  turned  into  a charitable  institution,  to 
support  all  classes  of  people  who  do  not  try 
to  support  themselves,  you  may  then  appro- 
priate $1,000,000  every  month,  and  the  more 
you  appropriate  the  more  people  will  be  starv- 
ing at  the  end  of  every  month  so  long  as  there 
is  a dollar  or  a man  to  pay  taxes. 

Tell  me,  sir,  that  this  money  is  not  to  go 
into  the  hand  and  mouths  of  these  people  that 
attempted  to  destroy  this  Government.  Buy 
your  $1,000,000  worth  of  rations,  send  them 
to  the  different  posts,  to  the  commanders  in 
the  different  parts  of  the  South,  distribute 
your  commissary  stores  to  the  various  officers 
throughout  that  country,  how  will  they  be 
issued?  They  will  be  issued  upon  the  state- 
ments of  parties  that  they  have  need  of  them. 
Who  will  make  these  statements?  They  will 
be  more  likely  to  be  made  by  the  men  and 
women  who  have  attempted  to  destroy  you  and 
me  than  by  those  who  have  revered  the  flag 
and  loved  their  country. 

I have- seen  the  families  of  the  men  with  their 
ten  thousand  broad  acres  come  and  ask  for 
provisions,  and  I have  seen  the  provisions 
given.  These  men  have  all  manner  of  devices 
to  attain  their  ends.  A very  common  dodge 
used  to  be  like  this : a lady  living  on  a planta- 
tion, with  her  fifty  or  seventy-five  slaves,  whose 
husband  was  in  the  rebel  army,  would  send  one 
of  her  colored  servants  to  make  application  at 
the  commissary’s  department  for  provisions  for 
the  whole  of  the  slaves.  She  controlled  their 
labor  and  would  send  them  on  this  errand. 
The  provisions  would  be  ordered  to  be  given, 
and  when  they  were  received  they  would  be 
divided  among  the  whole  family.  So  it  was, 
and  so  it  will  be  again.  Appropriate  this 
money  and  the  man  who  owns  his  broad  acres 
with  his  hired  laborers  will  resort  to  the  same 
trick  and  receive  the  rations. 

Mr.  ELDRIDGE.  May  I make  an  inquiry 
of  the  gentleman  ? 

Mr.  LOGAN.  Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  ELDRIDGE.  I understand  him  to  say 
that  the  southern  people  were  in  the  habit  of 
using  their  negroes  for  the  purpose  of  procur- 
ing provisions  from  the  officers  of  the  Army  by 
a dodge.  I wish  to  know  if  that  was  a very 
common  practice  among  these  negroes,  and 
if  so,  w’hether  those  negroes  who  practiced  this 
deceit  were  considered  as  loyal  men  at  the  time. 


Mr.  LOGAN.  They  were  considered  loyal ; 
and  I never  knew  a disloyal  negro  during  the 
war.  [Laughter.]  But  I will  tell  the  gentle- 
man this,  that  they  have  been  subject  to  the 
will  of  their  masters  for  such  a length  of  time 
that  they  know  no  better  than  to  obey  them. 

Mr.  ELDRIDGE.  I understand  the  gentle- 
man to  say  that  fifty  negroes  would  obey  one 
woman  and  cheat  the  officers  of  the  Army ; 
and  do  it  without  knowing  what  they  did,  and 
still  be  loyal. 

Mr.  LOGAN.  It  was  cheating  the  officers 
of  the  Army  or  Government ; it  was  a cheat 
on  the  part  of  the  person  who  directed  them 
to  do  it.  We  issued  the  rations  because  we 
believed  the  statement  of  the  negroes,  but 
afterward  we  learned  the  manner  in  which  the 
provisions  were  disposed  of. 

Mr.  BOYER.  One  question.  If  it  had  been 
known  that  these  negroes  who  thus  applied  for 
rations  did  so  for  the  purpose  of  saving  their 
mistress  and  her  family  from  starvation,  would 
the  gentleman  have  considered  it  proper  for 
the  officers  to  have  given  the  rations? 

Mr.  LOGAN.  So  far  as  I am  concerned  I 
should  have  obeyed  orders,  no  matter  what  I 
•thought.  But  the  gentleman  certainly  ought 
not  to  be  astonished  at  a dodge  of/ this  kind. 
Those  people  did  that  upon  the  same  principle 
that  the  northern  copperheads  dodged  the 
draft.  [Laughter  and  applause  in  the  gal- 
leries.] 

, Mr.  BOYER.  Mr.  Chairman,  the  gentle- 
man has  dodged  my  question.  [Laughter.] 
He  has  failed  to  answer  it,  but  replies  eva- 
sively that  he  should  have  obeyed  orders.  I 
j would  not  have  supposed  a gentleman  so  op- 
posed to  dodging  would  have  set  us  such  an 
example  at  this  time.  [Laughter.] 

Mr.  LOGAN.  Well,  so  far  as  my  qualifica- 
tions for  dodging  are  concerned,  the  gentleman 
will  probably  learn  more  about  them  at  some 
future  time  when  he  gets  better  acquainted,  with 
me.  [Laughter.]  1 have  no  disposition  to 
dodge  anything.  I only  assert  facts  ; the  gen- 
tleman can  draw  his  own  inferences  from  them. 
And  I assert  that  the  same  thing  will  occur 
again;  not  with  the  colored  people  any  more 
than  with  any  other  class.  But  I tell  the  gen- 
tleman now  that  I hear  no  appeal  coming  from 
the  starving  people  of  Missouri,  although  that 
State  suffered  almost  as  much  as  any  other  on 
account  of  war.  But  because  it  is  a loyal 
State,  because  the  loyal  portion  of  the  people 
got  control  and  held  it  firmly  in  the  Union, 
we  are  not  called  upon  to  appropiate  money 
to  feed  them. 

Mr.  BOYER.  I ask  the  gentleman  whether 
Missouri  is  not  included  in  the  provisions  of 
this  resolution,  whether  it  is  not  an  appropria- 
tion for  the  South  and  Southwest? 

Mr.  LOGAN.  I do  not  understand  it  as 
applying  to  Missouri.  I do  not  understand 
that  there  is  any  report  embracing  any  portion 
of  Missouri  in  this  condition  ; or  claiming  that 
any  States  are  except  those  which  have  been 
1 in  insurrection  against  the  Government. 


7 


Mr.  BLAINE.  Missouri  is  not  embraced 
within  the  scope  of  this  resolution  at  all. 

Mr.  LOGAN.  I say  to  the  gentleman  that 
we  do  not  come  here  from  Missouri  or  Illinois, 
or  from  any  of  the  northern  or  northwestern 
States  asking  alms  from  this  Congress. 

Although  there  are  many  poor  people  in  the 
Northwest,  we  do  not  understand  that  we  have 
a right  to  come  to  Congress  to  be  fed.  We 
have  all  suffered  during  the  war  and  have 
many  people  left  penniless.  There  was  suffer- 
ing before  the  war,  and  starving  people  all  over 
the  country,  and  who  ever  thought  of  asking 
Congress  to  be  the  dispenser  of  charities  to  a 
class  of  people  who  would  not  help  themselves. 
But  an  age  of  treason  has  taught  us  strange 
things  ; punish  nobody,  compromise  with  trai- 
tors, and  then  feed  them  whenever  some  one 
suggests  it.  All  this  is  done  for  States  that  re- 
belled, but  in  the  loyal  States  the  voice  appeal- 
ing in  weeds  for  help  must  be  provided  for  in 
some  other  way,  and  our  anxiety,  our  charity, 
our  sympathy  turned  in  a southerly  direction. 

Oh,  ye  poor  of  the  North,  how  unfortunate 
you  were,  if  you  ask  alms  of  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  that  you  had  not  lived  in  the 
land  of  treason  1 Now,  sir,  although  I enter- 
tain so  much  respect  for  the  Superintendent 
of  the  Freedmen’s  Bureau,  yet  if  you  appro- 
priate all  the  money  for  all  the  charitable  pur- 
poses for  which  he  may  be  inclined  to  ask,  you 
may  appropriate  millions  on  millions  for  all 
classes  of  poor  people  South ; and  may  also 
feed  the  peopje  of  Washington  city  so  long  as 
it  remains  the  capital  of  the  nation.  And  all 
this  will  be  done  with  the  best  intentions  on 
his  and  your  part.  I have  no  doubt  much 
money  is  being  used  to-day  by  this  Govern- 
ment for  the  support,  unwittingly,  of  families 
who  fostered  and  nourished  the  late  rebellion. 
Ay,  sir,  and  families,  too,  who  before  this  re- 
bellion never  wore  a garment  except  at  Gov- 
ernment expense ; who  never  had  a spear  of 
grass  to  grow  in  their  yards  or  a flower  to 
spring  up  in  their  gardens  that  was  not  watered 
by  the  drippings  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States  of  America. 

Sir,  you  will  see  by  this  resolution  that  those 
who  should  be  considered  the  favored  children 
of  this  land  will  not  be  included  among  the  starv- 
ing people  now  to  be  relieved  at  the  hands  of 
Congress;  and  I appeal  to  honorable  members 
to  say  if  charities  are  to  be  dispensed  by  Con- 
gress, it  shall  not  be  dispensed  to  one  portion  of 
the  country  more  than  another.  Put  not  your 
hands  into  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States 
for  the  purpose  of  fattening  and  fostering 
treason  again  in  the  land  that  gave  it  birth  and 
where  it  grew  into  manhood.  The  gentleman 
from  Pennsylvania  [Mr.  Boyer]  said  he  was 
willing  to  open  his  great  heart  to  these  suffer- 
ing people.  So  am  I willing  to  do  so  in  a 
proper  manner  when  much  deserving.  But, 
sir,  whence  comes  this  suffering?  It  was  not 
by  our  act,  not  bytheact  of  the  people  North; 
it  was  not  in  accordance  with  our  wishes  or 
our  desires,  but  by  their  own  act,  their  own 


indiscretion,  their  own  wrong,  their  own  crime 
against  their  country.  The  gentleman  from 
Minnesota  [Mr.  Donnelly]  says  we  should  do 
this  act  to  encourage  the  people  and  show  them 
our  affection  for  them,  or  words  to  that  effect . 
It  seems  to  me  that  .we  have  shown  our  for- 
bearance toward  these  people.  We  have 
offered  them  everything  that  they  could  ask. 
Proposition  after  proposition  has  been  ten- 
dered them  only  to  be  spurned  with  scorn  and 
contempt.  And  if  you  were  tendering  this 
money  to  them  to-day  through  their  rebel 
Legislatures,  it  would  be  spurned  by  them  ; 
but  in  this  manner,  when  all  can  say  I never 
had  any  of  your  charities,  I have  no  doubt  it 
will  be  very  acceptable. 

Mr.  WASHBURN,  of  Indiana.  Will  the 
gentleman  allow  me  to  ask  him  a question  ? 

Mr.  LOGAN.  Certainly. 

Mr.  WASHBURN,  of  Indiana.  I would 
ask  the  gentleman  if  he  is  in  favor  of  allowing 
to  starve  the  twenty-four  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-eight  colored  people,  who 
General  Howard  says  will  starve  to  death 
unless  they  are  assisted  in  some  way. 

Mr.  LOGAN*  I am  not  in  favor  of  allow- 
ing anybody  to  starve  if  I can  help  it.  I do 
not  want  any  man,  or  any  Avoman,  or  any 
child  to  starve.  But  I will  say  to  the  gentle- 
man this : that  it  has  not  been  brought  to  my 
knowledge  that  they  are  starving  more  than 
are  other  people  ; nor  has  it  been  yet  brought 
to  my  knowledge  that  these  people  are  in  such 
a condition  that  they  could  not  relieve  them- 
selves by  proper  industry  and  exertion  on  their 
part.  Nor  has  it  been  brought  to  my  knowledge 
that  the  wealthy  people  in  these  States  are  not 
able  to  put  thfeir  hands  into  their  own  pockets 
and  give  this  charity  for  the  purpose  of  saving 
the  lives  of  these  people,  just  as  well  as  the 
wealthy  people  of  the  North  can  do  it.  In  my 
own  State,  when  we  have  destitute  people,  we 
put  our  hands  in  our  own  pockets  and  provide 
for  them;  we  do  not  ask  Congress  to  do  it. 
When  the  gentleman  says  that  this  is  for  the 
benefit  of  colored  persons,  that  statement  is 
not  correct.  The  present  appropriation,  if  con- 
fined to  the  classes  who  come  under  the  Freed- 
men’s Bureau,  is  sufficient.  General  Howard 
tells  us  in  his  report  that  sufficient  appropria- 
tion has  already  been  made  to  be  expended 
under  his  direction  to  supply  the  class  em- 
braced, and  if  that  be  true,  it  is  his  duty  to 
provide  for  these  twenty  or  thirty  odd  thousand 
starving  colored  people  at  the  South ; and  he 
says  that  he  has  money  enough  to  do  this, 
$1,500,000  having  been  appropriated  for  the 
purpose.  What  is  the  propriety  of  appropri- 
ating another  million  when  General  Howard 
says  that  he  has  abundant  means  if  it  be  con- 
fined to  his  Department? 

I am  told  by  a gentleman  from  Massachu- 
setts [Mr.  Baldwin]  that  General  Howard 
stated  to  him  this  morning  that  this  appropri- 
ation, while  it  might  be  useful,  had  not  been 
asked  by  him  ; but  that  he  had  reported  it  as  he 
was  directed  to  do.  Now,  I am  opposed  to  this 


8 


House  being  directed  by  anybody  to  do  any- 
thing in  reference  to  any  of  the  people  of  this 
country  that  is  not  appropriate  to  be  done. 
§ir,  in  this  free  land  there  should'  be  no  pau- 
pers of  this  kind,  and  the  million  of  dollars  of 
property  given  up  to  rebels  by  assent  of  this 
Government  was  a charity  improperly  bestowed, 
and  we  should  be  sure  of  what  we  do  in  this 
instance.  There  is  no  State,  either  loyal  or 
disloyal,  that  is  not  able  by  a light  tax  on 
themselves  to  support  their  own  poor ; and  so 
long  as  this  is  the  case  1 for  one  am  not  will- 
ing to  bow  our  people  down  with  such  burdens, 
when  reason  and  justice  are  against  it,  although 
such  appeals  can  be  made  in  favor  of  suffer- 
ing, many  times  upon  a supposed  state  of  facts 
that  does  not  exist.  Sir,  this  is  all  I desire  to 
say. 

Mr.  COYODE  said: 

Mr.  Chairman  : I approve  of  the  substitute  of 
the  gentleman  from  Massachusetts,  [Mr.  But- 
ler,] and  in  making  the  few  remarks  that  I in- 
tend to  make  on  this  subject  I may  possibly  be 
betrayed  into  saying  something  that  may  be  con- 
sidered as  personal.  I approve  of  it  because  I 
know  that  there  are  thousands  of  suffering  wid- 
ows and  orphan  children  in  the  N orth  whose  hus- 
bands and  parents  have  died  by  starvation  in  the 
rebel  prisons  of  the  South.  Mr.  Chairman,  I 
think  that  I myself  have  suffered  as  much  from 
the  starvation  of  our  soldiers  as  any  member  of 
this  House  or  any  man  in  the  country.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  war  a company  was  raised  in 
my  immediate  neighborhood  called  the  u Co- 
vode  cavalry;”  they  were  commanded  by  one 
of  my  sons.  Of  that  company ,alone  twenty-' 


four  were  starved  to  death  at  Andersonville. 
Sir,  I cannot  look  out  of  my  house  to-day  with- 
out seeing  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those 
who  thus  suffered  in  rebel  prisons  at  the  South. 
Of  a regiment  commanded  by  my  son  one 
hundred  and  sixty-six  were  captured  when 
our  Army  fell  back,  under  General  Meade,  to 
Centreville,  one  hundred  and  forty- two  of  whom 
were  starved  to  death  at  Andersonville.  My 
youngest  son  was  among  the  number  there 
captured.  Have  we  no  sympathy  for  the  wid- 
ows and  orphans  of  these  men?  My  youngest 
son  suffered,,  as  it  were,  the  torments  of  the 
damned  for  twenty  months  in  Andersonville, 
and  my  eldest  fell  at  the  head  of  his  regi- 
ment near  Richmond,  leaving  a family.  I do 
not  ask  the  Government  to  come  to  my  re- 
lief, but  I do  protest  against  being  taxed 
to  feed  the  families  of  those  in  the  South 
who  were  engaged  in  carrying  on  this  rebel- 
lion. 

More  th£n  this,  sir,  I know  that  it  is  not  the 
poor  who  will  get  this  bounty,  but  the  impu- 
dent. I have  had  some  experience  in  the 
South,  not  only  during  the  war,  but  after  its 
close,  and  I have  seen  poor  Union  men,  who 
came  up  for  relief,  have  to  stand  back  and 
allow  impudent  rebels  to  come  up  and  demand 
of  the  commissary  their  rations.  I have  seen 
that  over  and  over  again.  It  is  not  the  poor, 
but  the  impudent  who  avail  themselves  of  the 
bounty  of  the  Government.  I am  therefore 
opposed  to  this  appropriation,  unless  an  equal 
amount  shall  be  appropriated  to  relieve  the 
sufferings  of  those  whose  husbands  and  fathers 
and  brothers  were  starved  to  death  in  rebel 
prisons. 


